Los Angeles, CA. Probably the hottest new-product rivalry at this year’s NAB Radio Show and World Media Expo (today through Saturday, Oct.9-12, Los Angeles Convention Center) is the battle of the integrated web site production packages. FreeRange Media and the Radio Data Group (RDG) have each launched suites of software designed to make it easy for radio stations to establish a live, interactive broadcasting presence on the Internet.
Free Range Media Inc. announced Audio Palette™, an “automated radio station website solution.” This package focuses on building a community at the web site, and delivering RealAudio” web-casting of broadcast content in both live and archival forms.
“Two key things necessary to create a popular website are to build delivery of fresh content and interactivity with the audience into the website, says Andrew Fry, President of Free Range Media. “Until now, this has been an expensive proposition for radio stations, because they demanded expensive development and maintenance. Our solution requires no custom development, it automates administration using our AudioVCR™ technology, and it incorporates our Community Suite™ of interactive and website administration products.”
The included AudioVCR module is a website audio administration tool. It allows the site manager to set blackout periods, record programs automatically, turn live feeds on and off, schedule live events, and to specify and sequence audio leads to precede retrieval of archived broadcasts. It is an integral component of easily and cost-effectively managing website audio content including advertisements the station sells.
Free Range points to an example station that is already up and running using the Audio Palette package. At KIRO Newsradio 710 in Seattle, traffic, news, weather and other scheduled broadcasts can be accessed by web listeners who were unable to listen to the radio wave broadcast. Listeners benefit from the value of accessing information they previously couldn’t on their schedule, and the station benefits by extending the time-value of their material.
“Giving our listeners 24-hour access to the latest information, even archived information is incredibly valuable,” says Tom Clendening, General Manager at KIRO. “Web access translates directly into increased listeners and that is what makes our business tick. As a business, we’re always looking for new sales opportunities and the website give us that.”
The software suite includes WebChat, WebNote (a bulletin board system), QuizMaster, SurveyBuilder, and six other interactive products that allow the station to query, poll and interact with its listeners during broadcasts or as part of promotional events, local community topics, national debates and more. These community-building capabilities have the advantage of creating new content for a station at little or no additional cost, along with a side benefit of attracting more listeners to the website.
Audio Palette requires RealAudio Server by Progressive Networks, and a Netscape, Apache, or NCSA web server. Minimum hardware requirements are a Sun Microsystems Sparc-5 running Solaris operating system, or a 133MHz Intel Pentium PC running Unix or Windows NT. Prices vary with the features purchased and start at $5,000 (US) per palette. A variety of specialized palettes will become available in the fourth quarter of 1996 including “Talk Radio,” “Rock-n-Roll,” “Classical,” and “Country-n-Western.”
RDG’s package is called MediaNext™, a “custom server software solution designed for even the most novice of Internet users.” The software allows a site manager to update the site on the fly, from any web browser, at any time. It features private password-protected administration pages on the web site. The webmaster fills in the blanks on the form, clicks a button, and the web page is immediately updated.
“This is an integrated solution for broadcasters who want to derive new revenue from the promotion and use of their web sites,” comments RDG President Michael Rau. “It’s for the station that can’t afford additional staffing to maintain those sites.”
MediaNext includes modules for updating text on the station site, including news, sports and weather pages (MediaText™); managing and updating hot links to other sites (RDG Link Manager); organizing, rotating, and billing for web site banner advertising (AdNext™); updating station events and/or a concert calendar (RDG Events Manager); and a listener database, demographics and marketing management tool (DataNext™).
“Our software makes maintaining and updating a web site as quick and easy as possible,” said Rau. “It puts the station in control. You shouldn’t have to rely on any third party to update your site.”
Other capabilities of the RDG package include a “Now On Air” page, which rotates pictures of air talent automatically to coincide with the broadcast schedule; Interactive Trivia, and an Interactive Guestbook.